strike fire and bring tears
by 00start-of-time00
Summary: Lydia Martin and Stiles Stilinski both attend Idyllwild Arts Academy. When they meet, they instantly hate each other, but after being paired together in a year-long project, they learn to work together and bond as friends and maybe even something more.
**A/N: HEY GUYS I'M BACK. Anyways, here's a new story.**

 **Note: I am well aware that Idyllwild is an actual art school in California, but the details relating to the school in the story are NOT ACCURATE AND MADE UP. So please do not hold me accountable for that, I made all the details (the classes, classrooms, buildings etc) up.**

 **Thanks!**

 **Review please! i want to know what you guys think!**

* * *

Lydia Martin has never been more terrified in her entire life.

She's faced some nerve-wracking things too. Taking standardized tests that determined her future and the first time she performed in front of a crowd induced fear in her, but nothing compared to this.

Leaving her house and getting into the car was hardship number one. Arriving and stepping onto the campus for the first time was a whole other deal that created a new feeling of fear and anxiety that she had no idea was in her until that moment. Walking into the actual building and being directed to the main office only elevated this feeling.

But as she stepped into the main office, she, for some reason, felt the wave of relief hit her. She hypothesized it had something to do with hearing the easy going and comforting laughter coming from three girls standing by the paper copier in the corner. Lydia stared at them slightly, noticing how pretty and happy they looked, but turned away quickly to avoid confrontation. She walked up to the front desk.

"Hi, I'm Lydia Martin, I'm here for my-"

"Oh, Lydia! Yes, hi! We've been expecting you!" The young woman secretary exclaimed cheerfully and loudly. It startled Lydia, causing her to jump a little. "I'm Ms. Cassie, the secretary of this office, as you can see, and I'm also the school nurse. Welcome to Idyllwild Arts Academy! We're so happy and lucky to have you!"

Ms. Cassie seemed to draw the attention of the three paper copier girls in the back, as they instantly stopped laughing and looked in Lydia's direction. Lydia blushed for a moment, a bit of embarrassment overcoming her. She was careful not to look at any of them as she smiled at Ms. Cassie.

"Okay! Not to overwhelm you, we want you to get comfortable with the place, get settled in," She reassured. "But here's your schedule, with the room number and your professor's name. Here's a map," She shoved a packet full of papers into Lydia's hands and reached into her drawers to get more. "And here's your room information. It looks like you're in the North Wing, room 515."

From the corner of her eye, she saw the three girls perk up at that information. Without hesitation, the pretty dark-haired brunette approached her with the friendliest smile Lydia had ever seen.

"So you're my new roommate! I was wondering when you were going to come," the girl said. "I'm Allison Argent, creative writing major. It's so nice to meet you!"

Lydia smiled big at the girl and looked back to the two others behind her.

"I'm Malia Tate, visual arts major." The tall girl with the short, light brown hair told her with a small smile.

"And I'm Kira Yukimura! I'm a fashion major." The short asian girl followed, her smile just as big. Her clothes were bright and flashy, but Lydia liked it.

"It's nice to meet you all. Wow, you're all super nice here," Lydia answered with a quiet laugh. Ms. Cassie laughed along with her. "I'm Lydia. I'm a…" Lydia looked at Ms. Cassie with a confused look. "I actually don't know what major I am. My acceptance letter just said to be determined."

Ms. Cassie nodded, looking for more paperwork on her desk.

"Oh, it looks like they haven't updated your information yet. But no worries, hun! You'll find out tomorrow for sure," Ms. Cassie assured her. "Well, I guess I can cancel that student guide I had assigned for you since you've met your roommate already. I hope your first day at Idyllwild goes well, Lydia. I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you."

/

"Whoa, this room is nice!" Lydia exclaimed as Malia, Kira and Allison helped bring her things into the room. As they set everything done, Malia sighed.

"Yup. North Wing has the best dorms. It's one of the nicer ones compared to all the rest of them," Malia commented. "Perks of being friends with Allison, I guess. And you too now!"

The four girls laughed. Malia and Kira left to leave Lydia to unpack and get settled in.

"I'm really glad that you're my roommate and I didn't get another whack job. My last roommate literally put pictures of her cats up _all_ over the room," Allison remembered with a cringe. "Sometimes over the weekends, she would bring them here."

Lydia couldn't help but laugh as she opened her suitcase to unpack her clothes into the closet and drawers.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about me. If anything, I'm pretty boring."

Allison snorted. "Probably not. You seem really cool. And you must be extremely talented if your major is still undetermined."

Lydia looked at the girl with a skepticism.

"Really? I thought it meant that I wasn't good." Lydia expressed. Allison was quick to shake her head.

"No! Quite the opposite. It means that you're skilled in almost every area of the arts here at Idyllwild and they're not sure which one is truly your best field. You'll probably be observed by your teachers fairly closely throughout the next week," Allison explained. "When Ms. Cassie said you'd find out by tomorrow, she was most likely wrong."

Lydia raised her eyebrows.

"Most Idyllwild students are observed throughout their first two years of schooling, so the counselors can help guide you to the right major. With transfers it's pretty hard, but you must be really good. I know the audition process for transfers are rigorous."

Lydia agreed with a slightly aggressive nod.

"Oh my gosh, yes. Those four days were the worst." Allison nodded and laughed.

"Yeah! But you got through it and you're here!" She said with excitement. "If you're really worried about the major thing, you can talk to our friend Stiles. He had the undetermined major for literally the entire first semester of junior year."

Lydia nodded as she finished placing her clothes where she wanted them.

"Nice. What's his major now?" Lydia asked.

"Music and creative writing major," Allison replied. "I'm so excited for you to meet him and the rest of our friends. They're going to love you."

/

Stiles lugged his bags into his new room, throwing his school backpack and his books on his bed. He sighed deeply before proceeding to unpack his things. When the door swung open, he jumped but smiled and laughed when he saw his longtime, childhood best friend Scott McCall standing at the door way.

"Scotty!"

"Stiles!"

The two hugged even though it had been a solid 5 minutes since they had seen each other.

Stiles and Scott grew up together in small town Beacon Hills, California, graduating middle school together as a tag team. Their families had been friends for a long time, and now they are "official" brothers as Stiles' dad married Scott's mom over the summer.

"I can't believe that we're finally rooming together for our senior year, Stiles! And we got a North Wing dorm room. What the hell!"

Stiles laughed loudly before looking around their room.

"I could get used to this."

Scott nodded as he pulled up his schedule. He groaned slightly just looking at it but sighed.

"Ugh, I have Hale first period. That's gonna suck. And I have Raul for dance!" Scott rolled his eyes. "Let me see your schedule bro."

Stiles rummaged through his things and finally handed his best friend a light blue paper containing his future for the year ahead.

"Hey, we have like half of our classes together!" Scott exclaimed.

Stiles smiled at first, but then frowned.

"Wait...do I have Hale and Raul too?" He questioned.

Scott gave him a sheepish look and handed him his schedule with a shrug. Stiles examined the paper with annoyance as he placed it on his bed.

"I've had Hale for three years in a row. This blows! Hale hates me."

Scott didn't even try to argue with him because he knew it was true. Mr. Derek Hale always gave Stiles low grades, but he never knew why. Whenever Stiles would try to talk to him about them, he would brush it off, coming up with excuses and reasons that didn't make sense.

Stiles barely passes last year because of his class.

"Hey, it's senior year. We're going to have a blast, and it's only one class. At least you got me in there, you know?" Scott assured. "I wonder what Allison's schedule is." He wondered aloud, causing Stiles to roll his eyes internally.

"Please tell me this is the year you're finally going to man up and ask Allison Argent out on a freaking date."

Scott groaned.

"Stiles."

Stiles laughed as he shrugged.

"Hey, it's senior year!" He mocked as he ran out of their room.

/

Scott and Stiles walked to the dining hall, where the entire school was going to have their annual "first night dinner." Students from all grade levels sat together, meeting new people and eating dinner together.

This is how Allison, Scott, and Stiles first met their freshman year.

"Allison!"

The beautiful brunette whipped around to find her two best friends walking towards her.

"Scott! Stiles! Oh my God!" Allison ran to them, hugging Scott first and Stiles after. They hadn't seen each other all summer.

Stiles was the first out of the two to notice the seemingly shy red-head trailing behind Allison slowly.

Scott was still staring at Allison.

"You look great." He told her with that flirty smile he always had with her. Allison blushed before replying.

"Thanks. You too."

Stiles couldn't stop looking at the pretty stranger with the light red hair.

"Al, who's this?" Stiles asked, gesturing towards the girl. Allison turned around with a smile and put her arm around the girl Stiles was referring to.

"Oh, duh. This is Lydia Martin. She's my new roommate!" Allison responded. "She's a transfer. Actually, Stiles, she's an undetermined major right now like you were last year." Scott couldn't hide his surprise. Stiles did a better job at hiding his.

Lydia tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and blushed, shifting her eyes at the ground and at the two boys in front of her.

"Wow, your application must have been really impressive. They don't really admit transfers, especially senior year," Scott commented. "What made you want to come here now?"

Lydia then looked anywhere but at them.

"Well, um...I was admitted and actually enrolled for classes and stuff freshman year...but...something happened and I couldn't really come here anymore. I only really got around to reapplying last year."

Stiles just continued to stare at this new girl. He didn't know what it was about her, but there was something that enticed him. He wanted to know more. He was unusually drawn to her, her bright green eyes and long hair made him look at her longer than he would with most girls. She was a mystery, unknown, unfamiliar, and undeniably beautiful.

"Lydia, this is Scott and Stiles, my two closest and best friends." Allison spoke.

Lydia smiled at the both of them, her light red lip gloss glistening from the shine of the light.

Lydia Martin was a mystery, unknown, unfamiliar, and undeniably beautiful.

Which is why Stiles needed to stay away.

Because Stiles Stilinski may be dense sometimes, but he always knew how to learn from past mistakes.

/

Dinner was finally over, and Lydia was exhausted. She enjoyed talking to all these new people and she loved getting to know them, but all she wanted to do was sleep. Just as she thought it was all done and over with, the dean of the school approached the stage.

She heard Allison groan a little, as well as everyone else at the table. Noticing the confused look on her face, Allison leaned forward to whisper what was happening to Lydia.

"They're going over the rules. They do this every year. It takes forever."

And just like that she found herself groaning with the rest of them.

Lydia sat in silence and boredom as she listened to the dean ramble off a list of rules. She didn't care too much because Lydia was not one to get herself into a lot of trouble. She'd be fine.

She began to listen when they started talking about curfew. She noticed that everyone else around her, even the sophomores, juniors, and seniors were listening too.

"It is require for you to be in your rooms by 11pm every night. RA's will only do bed checks for freshmen and sophomores. Juniors and seniors, you know we trust you," The dean said. "You cannot be off of campus past 9pm. If you are found off campus or sneaking back into campus past that time, you will be written a Saturday and Sunday detention, and you will be unable to participate in any classes or activities that day. You know it's for your own safety."

Lydia tilted her head slightly at this information. She found it a little weird, though she knew that it may be necessary.

"Finally, students are absolutely forbidden from being in classrooms during night hours. I don't care if you have a music assignment due the next morning. You cannot be in teacher's rooms during the night. If you are found in any room past 11pm, you will be written a Saturday and Sunday detention, along with after classes detentions for a week."

Lydia looked at Allison with confusion. She saw that even Allison was shocked, along with half of the other people at the table.

She assumed this was a new rule.

"What's that about?" She asked Allison quietly.

Allison glanced at her before examining the dean's movements on stage very carefully.

"I wish I knew. We never had a curfew before."

As the dean left the stage, the principal, Mr. Weiser came onto the stage, taking the microphone from the dean. Lydia noticed that he was pretty young for a principal.

"Hello! I'll make this quick, because I know that you all want to go to your rooms and go to bed for classes tomorrow," He said. "But, I just wanted to say that I'm hoping for a good year. I'm excited for what's to come for our school this year. I know that we have a lot of new talent…"

Lydia swore she locked eyes with Mr. Weiser for a few seconds. For some reason, those eyes looked familiar.

"But I know that you'll succeed. You were made for the arts. You were meant to be here. Art is more than just talent, it's also made of heart. And I know you all have heart. We're proud of you, and we love you."

Mr. Weiser left the stage with a smile and a round of applause following him. Students began getting up from their chairs as the loud chatter started again.

"Does he do that every year?" Lydia asked Allison as they walked out together with Scott and Stiles.

"He's never done that before. This is weird. We've never had a curfew and Mr. Weiser has never gotten that sentimental with us. Hell, I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know my name!" Allison exclaimed. Lydia was very confused by this. From what she could see, he seemed to care about his students immensely.

"Yeah...Something's up. I don't know what, but there's something," Scott agreed. "I mean, he's always seemed so depressed and upset that Idyllwild wasn't getting many titles or recognition. But maybe this year's freshman class is insanely talented?" He suggested. "Stiles, what do you think?"

Scott looked to Stiles for him to comment something. Lydia and Allison looked at him as well, waiting for him to respond. But he just shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"I think you guys are just reading too much into it. There's nothing wrong, I guess they're just harder this year because more amateurs came in this year." Stiles replied rather rudely, looking straight at Lydia. He then proceeded to briskly walk away from the three, slightly hitting Lydia's shoulder as he escaped.

Lydia narrowed her eyes at the back of his head, feeling slightly attacked and insulted by his comment.

She didn't notice Allison and Scott's exchange of weird looks behind her.


End file.
